The Nectars Interview
Jon and Baron of the New York indie-punk band “The Nectars” tell us about the origins of their band, their experiences writing with a female singer, and their new music video for the track “I Want It”.
So tell me a little bit about this band. What type of sound is this band trying to give off?
Baron: “We’re definitely a rock band. We love punk rock music and grew up listening to it, so I think that definitely comes out and shines. People have told me it sounds like grunge, or that it’s 90’s influenced. There’s definitely some of that in there, too.”
So who are a few of the bands that have influenced the sound?
Baron: “There’s so many. From 90’s stuff like Dinosaur Jr, Nirvana obviously, The Melvins, Sonic Youth, Hole, Bikini Kill. We also like newer stuff like The Killers, Foo Fighters, that kind of stuff.”
So tell me the story of how this band started.
Jon: “The drummer and I had played in a band before, and that band came to a very abrupt halt. We were kind of left frustrated trying to figure out what to do. One thing we kind of matched up on was our own personal listening and what kind of music we liked. So we just started jamming together again and we got back into the swing of things. We knew that we needed a singer because I’m not a strong enough singer to do everything on my own. So we found Jess. We were also needing a guitar player because I suck at guitar. So B was the first person to come to mind since we had been jamming together before for other projects and different things. It was quick and easy, we didn’t have to search long, We just got together and started rocking out!”
What do you think is the thing about your band that makes you different from other bands?
Baron: “I think we find our uniqueness in doing whatever feels comfortable to us. We listen to a lot of the same music and like a lot of the same stuff. We’re always sharing songs with each other, so we start with the same musical headspace. With all these different influences that we have, when we write stuff, all of those different influences end up coming out. I guess we like that about ourselves. We don’t try to put ourselves into some sort of small box or something like that. We appreciate the different qualities of different artists and bands that we listen to.”
Jon: “Basically when we’re in the studio recording, the greatest idea wins out and we just go with our guts. It’s definitely raw and unfiltered.”
Can you tell me a little about your newest single “I Want It?”
“We wanted to have a quick hot punk song. It was from a girls perspective of demanding sex. We thought that would be kind of a cool idea to introduce. So it started off with a riff and there were just some melodies made over that.
Awesome! Yeah I love the fact that the song is very very much a punk song.
Baron: “Yeah! When we initially started it, it was just us yelling over the track. Then we just started filling it in with lyrics and melody and that type of stuff. It’s a raw kind of stripped down kind of song, but it’s cool, man! Feels good.”
So with having a female singer, how does her voice shine through with having an otherwise all male band?
Jon: “Well me personally, I come from a single mother situation, so at the end of the day I am very pro women's perspective and I can very much relate and understand exactly what she’s feeling. We’re all open to that and sensitive to Jess’ situation. She writes from many different perspectives. There’s some songs where it’s very collaborative and it’s coming from me or whatever. A lot of these songs, especially “Heaven” and that one in particular are very in her voice. We’re comfortable with that. It doesn’t emasculate us in any way to have a strong girls opinion.”
Out of curiosity, if you were to have a male singer in the band do you think any of the ideas you guys have would be any different?
Baron: “When we started the band in the beginning, we knew we wanted to have a girl singer. We were listening to a lot of female fronted bands in the moment, and it just felt like it was a natural next step having done a band that had a frontman that was trying to call every shot. We knew that it would make sense to start a band with a girl who would be sensitive to everyone’s opinions, and we could all work together collaboratively. So no, I think ultimately we just write from the heart. We don’t like the bands that are cock bands where it’s like “how much pussy can you get?” That’s lame!”
Jon: “I usually don’t think about so much the perspective of it. When we’re sitting down writing, it’s kind of what comes natural. We’re all really close, know each other really well, and are sensitive to each other's ideas and how we express ourselves and everything like that. If it were anybody else involved, it would come out the same way.”
So what is the band working on now?
“We’re going to be putting out a full length album this summer. It should be coming out I think in May.”
How does this album compare to some of your older works?
Jon: “The whole theme of this album (called “Sci-Fi Television”) is just kind of a response to how scary the world has been basically in the last year or two. It’s in some way an escape in the way that you watch TV and get away from it all. And in the same way we’re kinda watching ourselves in a scary Sci-Fi Black Mirror type of way. A lot of songs are about that and the perspective of a bunch of twenty-somethings just going through the world trying to find out what to do. All we want to do is play some music and spread some magic in that way.”
Tell me about the music video for “I Want It”
Jon: “We don’t like too serious of videos, and our first one that we put out was just a performance type one. So we wanted to show a little bit of our personalities in this next video. So basically, the plot is based around this documentary on a crazy Gypsy art installation that’s been showing up around the US in the last 30 years. They’re basically these little tiles that show up in like Time Square, or in front of The White House, and all these weird locations. It’s this crazy idea that this guy has been having for years that if you go to the planet Jupiter, you can find all these spirits of anyone who’s ever died. So we took that crazy idea and combined it with wanting to send Jess to space because she’s always wanted to go to space. We had her build a spacecraft out of a washing machine, and we launched it!”
Wow I am definitely excited to see it, sounds pretty cool!
Jon: “Yeah I think you’ll enjoy it. It’s pretty funny and interesting. It’s got a lot of layers.”